Wildcat
by CraftAndBurn
Summary: Kurama contemplates his life as Shuichi Minamino, the lessons that he's learned as a human... and his careful pursuit of the one he's fallen in love with. KxH, but nothing heavy. Probably a oneshot unless I'm inspired to continue.


**Wildcat**

**Longest Author's Note in the Entire Universe:** _So my mad ramblings on Microsoft Word have led me here. Lovely then.  
This is my first venture into the scary world of writing YYH fanfiction. It's also my first go at writing a boyXboy pairing. It's also… my first oneshot. That's a lot of firsts. Three. Count 'em. Three.  
I've written two other fics. Both have been pretty much abandoned. My sentence structure is very wordy and complicated (I'm blaming the hours spent studying 'classic' read: boring novels in English Literature warping my sense of good literature). I think that may be why I have such a difficult time getting readers. When people read fanfiction, they want something pleasant to read, not something where they have to backtrack and squint to get any meaning out of it.  
Therefore I've decided to return to the fanfiction scene, not with a long, painstakingly-planned out, multi-chapter… thing, but with a simple oneshot. And so I give you Wildcat. If you've survived the author's note, I'm both surprised and impressed! XD Now you can have the fic you came here for_.

**Disclaimer:** _No, of course I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, or any of the characters in this fic. If I did, I wouldn't need to write fanfiction, because things would've played out in the series the way I would prefer. Kurama and Hiei would be together, Yusuke would stop slicking his hair back, Jin wouldn't be an embarrassment to the Irish, and Rinku would have a better voice actor._

Fox.

That was the animal that others always associated with Kurama. It was no surprise, really. Before he'd entered the Ningenkai that's basically who and what he had been: Youko Kurama, the five-tailed Fox Demon, the infamous thief who had supposedly been hunted down and killed several years ago – and yet lived on among humans, working for Koenma of all people… He'd even developed a certain fondness for the human race, something that he never would have found himself doing without the _very_ human sentiments of Shuichi Minamino.

Sometimes, in the days of Shuichi's early childhood, Kurama had wondered if this dull, sheltered human upbringing was really worth extending his life for. How much longer, he had always thought impatiently as he watched Shuichi's mother with distaste, will I have to endure this woman and her sickly-sweet baby talk, this infuriatingly tedious lifestyle? How long before I can leave?

And then one day, his outlook on life had been completely turned upside-down. Just like that. One simple fall, one swift action from the mother he had once looked upon so resentfully, and suddenly he began to develop a completely new point of view with regards to humans – how they protected the ones they loved, for example. Shuichi's mother had had no second thoughts, no regrets over what she had done that day, even though she'd been injured in his place. She loved him more than she loved herself. She would have preferred to get hurt herself than see any harm come to him, her son… and for six years he'd been lying to her constantly.

He learned many other lessons while Shuichi grew up in Ningenkai, about the differences between humans and demons. Demons were generally unfriendly, violent, bloodthirsty creatures... in many ways the human race was no different. There was always some incident on television or in the newspaper, some murder or abduction… but it was always followed by appeals, crying friends and family members pleading for justice or the return of some individual, just one among six billion others to the rest of the world, but something precious and irreplaceable to the people who knew them.

More precious and irreplaceable to them, perhaps, than all the treasures Kurama had ever stolen, combined.

These were just some of the things that Kurama had discovered while experiencing a human childhood.

His mother had almost been taken away by an illness. That was when the things that he'd learned were truly tested. He'd broken many laws of the Spirit World, entered into a dangerous plot with two others and helped to steal three precious artefacts, before promptly walking out on his two accomplices when he'd gotten the Mirror of Rei Kai to save his mother as she had once done for him.

Yusuke Urameshi had taught him yet another lesson on love: that you couldn't always die for someone you cared about.

'_You ever seen a mother despairing over her lost child? No woman should suffer such agony…'_

Sometimes, when you loved someone… you had to learn to love yourself.

As he worked and travelled and fought alongside the self-christened "Team Urameshi", he became more and more attached not only to his human surrogate mother, but also to the human world as a whole. Perhaps getting a taste of the Makai every now and then left him more content to remain as 'Shuichi', less frustrated and trapped among the humans he once cared little for. A fox by nature is a solitary, unsociable creature, living on instinct and by the moment. Foxes were never meant to be kept indoors, and they were distrustful of humans.

But eventually, Shuichi grew older and discovered the frail beauty of his new home in the human world… and to his disbelief, the fox demon had gradually fallen in love.

Dragon.

Indeed, Kurama had found himself growing more and more attached to the wielder of the Cursed Dragon… and he had been surprised at how little he'd wanted to fight it. The mischievous fox demon within certainly had no qualms regarding physical attraction – it wasn't as if demons could really care less about convention or other people's opinions… his attraction to another male was nothing shameful and he saw no reason for it to be - but the part of him that was Shuichi was unsure of what he was thinking, and yet at the same time, fascinated, _captivated_ by the little fire apparition that somehow commanded the presence of someone – or something - several times his size.

Hiei had yet to learn the lessons that Kurama had – how to interact with the human race in a civilised manner, for one thing. The dark-haired demon had a habit of being patronising or just plain rude to those living in the human world. He still didn't fully understand why people behaved the way they did, why they were always so keen to protect each other at their own expense, or why they often seemed to ignore the dog-eat-dog nature of the world as he knew it. He still couldn't bring himself to completely trust the humans he walked alongside. True, once upon a time he'd hated the entire race without question; they were simple, ridiculous creatures who lacked the wit to do anything outside the mundane, stifling routine dictated to them by the rules of what they called a 'nice' life. What was there to like?

Kurama wasn't sure that Hiei had ever loved anyone in his life, with the exception of Yukina, his own sister. And even then, he'd never openly showed her any affection, preferring to watch her from afar. This, Kurama decided, was a lesson that Hiei still had to learn. Perhaps it was one of the most important lessons, and yet the one that we would find the most difficult to grasp. He had yet to learn to look beyond his label as a 'cursed' being, and learn to, well, love himself, so that he could allow others to love him too, and perhaps even love them in return.

Kurama believed that it was unimaginative to compare Hiei to a dragon. Unimaginative, and inaccurate. Unimaginative because although Hiei could summon such a terrible creature, he had done so by his own work, his dedication and his desire to survive in a world where he was either loathed or forgotten – a need to leave his mark as someone who was not to be shunned as the hated Forbidden Child of Koorime, but respected as a formidable foe, a skilled killer. No, that did not make Hiei himself like a dragon. Dragons were huge, spiritual entities that demanded fear with their towering appearance, frequenting fairy tales and legends.

Hiei was less than five feet tall, and had his feet firmly planted on the ground. He had power, he had strength - it went without saying…

But… a Dragon he was not. Kurama preferred to think of Hiei as being like a wild cat. Small. Graceful. Reclusive. The wild cat had no love for humans, or anyone else for that matter. Always ready to attack at the first sign of contact, both friendly and hostile.

Kurama had spent a long time trying to ease his way into the fire demon's life, to the point that occasionally they even spent time together, just them and nobody else. Granted, Hiei had shown him no obvious signs of love or affection… but while there had been no advances on Hiei's part, Kurama had found himself being permitted to edge ever closer to his prize.

Now, he'd drawn himself right up next to his little companion, and while Hiei remained somewhat detached, there were simple steps forward. He could say and do things now that would previously have ended in him getting bitten. Kurama could say that he was glad to see the other demon, stand a little closer to him when they were together, once he'd even brushed his hand against his, very briefly, and had received no protest to his 'unnecessary human pleasantries', no demands for personal space or that the fox keep his hands to himself. Granted, Hiei rarely returned these signs of affection, but no longer showed any disapproval either. Small things, seemingly insignificant, so small that their companions didn't even notice what was going on between the two, but each brief encounter was a little step to Kurama, and for now that would suffice.

And after each little step, as he watched the dragon wielder flit away in a flash of black and white, he smiled. It was a delicate process that required all the patience that Shuichi could spare them, and yet… slowly but ever more clearly, he was taming his little wildcat. He'd stand completely still for a thousand years if it would coax him to come a little closer… But one day, Kurama thought to himself each time they parted, one day he would take his wildcat home with him.

**Author's Note Zee Second:** _Okay... It_ _kinda became a narrative of Shuichi's history in canon for the first half, followed by the actual point I was trying to make in the second half. I actually kind of bored myself writing parts of it. D: I'm also a little worried because this isn't the kind of fluffy "I love you" "I love you too, let's hug!"-style fic that'll rake in the squeeing fangirls. I should know, I'm one of 'em.  
As you probably already know, reviews are practically invaluable to me, so much that finding one via e-mail is cause for squeeing and champagne. Constructive Crit. is so important as a writer, so if you see mistakes, whether it's lack of continuity with the series or anything else, please let me know. Also, if anyone has any ideas for something I could move on to next (whether it's to make this a longer story with more chapters or a new piece to start), that'll be greatly appreciated, as inspiration has been thin on the ground for me lately. Many thanks for reading! Please stay tuned! -heart-_


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